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sungpeach · 1 year

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n a v i g a t i o n

hi yall i'm demi (26, they/she, pacific) and this is sung! feel free to give this a like or dm me on discord at demi6468 if you'd like to plot

if you're wondering if i'm the demi you know... probably. it's been a while since i've done tumblr rp so pls bear w me. this barbie is also a shawol so expect constant references in and out of character. that said, more sung info (sungfo, if u will) below:

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background:

grew up poor but then listened to paris hilton and just stopped being poor (or, as history will say, his parents' restaurant business blew up)

moved around quite a bit in older child/tween years as the business grew

was an idol fan from a young age, but the 'rents wanted sung as their business successor

sucks 4 them sung became a trainee anyway. was set for debut after a couple years but that fell through, then the company started treating him as a model instead of an idol and it wore him down and he left

took on military service

didn't give up on his dream tho, joined another company after coming back and worked as a back up dancer for a fallback

tldr for the ending survival show > temporary group > disbandment > solo

personality:

vitamin, sunshine, kind, sweet, polite, hopeless romantic, hard working, determined, introspective, dreamer, overthinker, judgmental, gives himself very good advice but very seldom follows it, can be a bit manipulative (though he doesn't think he is)

he's a pisces, for context on all the above. also a crybaby. cries for happiness, sadness, anything in between

sung's idol self and true self aren't particularly different, idol sung is just more careful/shows negative traits less. he has a pretty good reputation, and a lot of his Brand relies on being likable

the biggest actual difference is sung's a raging homo, which ofc isn't public knowledge

introverted extrovert. most would class him as an extrovert, but he really needs the time to have a cool down period

plots:

sung loves to read, so fellow readers are an easy connection

cares Very Much about music and dance. while he's a known kpop gg stan, he has a decent range of taste in music. over his idol career, he's developed a strong love for songwriting and choreographing to where at this point he's not particularly interested in releasing anything his hands Haven't touched. this is a great place for other diehards/creatives to connect, but also where sung's negative traits could come out. he could be quick to judge someone's commitment level and react poorly due to it

it'd be Lovely to fill the role of a choreographer that sung really respects and has a close relationship with. preferably not an idol for this one, but they would be the person who co-choreographed and starred in sung's move! i see this relationship as one where their passions about dance line up very well and it was an instant connection. they could have worked together at other points as well, like choreographing for bsides for his first solo concert

that said, would also love other dancers that he keeps on retainer for releases and performances! as he cares so much about his ~art~ he really wants to keep those he feels align with his work. so the same faces pop up a lot. he's very loyal and gives flowers (mostly metaphorical but literal too) to all staff and crew, whether they're on stage with him or not

also loves romantic dramas. he's less knowledgable in other fields (least knowledgable in horror) but still partakes. he's just more likely to sims 4 get famous scream and faint over a romance actor

any athletes i am so sorry to tell u this gayby has no clue who you are

other survival group members! idt i'll make it an official wanted ad since i left everything so vague, but there are so many directions for that. i also Headcanon jsj (the temp group) to being a pseudo sibling group with rhiannon and yebin's viv:id 🤓

i'd love for another vivid member to come and be the feat on sung's song be your enemy! yebin was karina in want and rhi was seulgi on heart stop so it'd be fun to continue the trend

another negative place to come from could be just catching sung on a bad day back when he was pushed as a model in his og company. he was very worn out, discouraged, and idk teen hormones im sure didn't make it easier. on the flip side, someone supporting him then would be lovely

the easiest way to tick sung off without much effort has to do with politeness. he gives a lot more grace to foreigners, but really doesn't stand for it from born koreans

i mention negative ideas most since those are hardest for nice muses BUT in gen, sung is kind of a 'friend of the industry' guy. though, especially when he was younger, he had a hard time picking up on cues from people that they didn't want to be friends. he's pretty full on and touchy straight away. loves him a little cuddle

with romance, he's a chronic falling in love with friends-er. but he's also a True hopeless romantic so a guy says smth nice to him once and he walks away with a little bit of a crush 9/10 times. doesn't tend to go for his best interests, so negative romantic r/s are welcome too (past or present)

also he had a gf sometime when he was around 16-18, so that could be fun to play with!

#thefourintro

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canonsinthehead · 1 year

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RGG/Yakuza/Judgement in the Entertainment Industry

YAKUZA

Kiryu: Ascended singer/back up dancer now a professional fighter. With Nishiki he was part of the Sunflower Boys Club (like Disney micky mouse club ya dig). In his younger he even had a (successful) duo with Nishiki named (idk the name fam but their duo would be a male japanese 80’s duo WINK). But this only created a gap between the two where Kiryu was getting noticed more and contacted by various types of deals (commercials, mc host deal, acting, etc,), the public treated Nishiki like a side dish (the Beyonce treatment).

The deal sealed itself at the death of their company owner Kazama, and closely after when their manager Kashiwagi resigned from its position and the industry as a whole. After a long break and reflection, Kiryu still wanted to reunite the duo and rebrand into something more mature, but Nishiki refused and broke his contract to go his own way. Kiryu did the same in professional fighting where he is at the top of what they have to offer

Nishiki: once known as everyone boyfriend, the lovely Nishiki (play BOYFRIEND – Love Style). Rebranded with his whole name Akira Nishikiyama as a professional racer leaving all his links with kazama’s company behind him. He plays it lowkey and he is actually not bad (more like a silver or bronze type of good but not the top game). Nishiki remained petty and hate any discussions about Kiryu with the media/public especially since Nick Ogata leaked out that a girl was the main reason and the source of the duo’s breakup and Nishiki’s bitterness towards Kiryu Yumi: Actress Kashiwagi: Manager (precisely Nishiki and Kiryu’s), now retired. Haruka: Idol (off course) Majima: MC and variety show host and part-time fighter. Actually, most of his wealth comes from owing stuff (most people don’t know the depth of what he owns). His occasional fights with Kiryu gets the most ratings. We can even catch him on baking competitions and dancing with the stars and the local drag race, yah majima the funky ‘’businessman’’ Saejima: MMA Fighter. Akiyama: Funky & Rich golf player. Tachibana: Real estate owner. Jun Oda: Tachibana’s bodyguard Daigo: rookie but hella successful news presenter Mine: Lawyer attached to famous cases especially defending the guilty. The dude the girlies are simping for on Tik Tok. Shinida: Baseball player.

Nishida: Cameraman or TV crew member Majima keeps calling his assistant. Ryuji: grown Disney kid who ascended to legit model-hood but loves to puts his nose in everything. Rumors says he spent time in jail. Somehow has hella cash and people on social media likes him. His rants get millions of view, He always beefing with someone on Twitter and in real life (guilty or not). Aside from his antics, he has his hand in ownership of many brands and large businesses mostly coming from his father’s heritage and shady business practices. People loves to undermine his talent when it comes to investments and overall finance. Reina: professional guitarist of an indie jazz band rikiya: aspiring actor, currently everyone sweetheart and part of all the series famous with the youth these days. Part of the main cast from series trending on Netflix. Hana: kpop group coordinator (the girl who do the clothes)

Baba: Aspiring but still struggling SoundCloud rapper

Mayumi: center of a girl group. HyunA of a group with the aesthetic of the girl group SECRET.

Date: a famous lawyer always involved in big cases.

YAKUZA 7/LIKE A DRAGON

Ichiban: Athlete, (I see soccer). Using his name into it: Ichiban is always number one. Here’s goes the lighting bringing the fire in the place. He is the one, he is number one, ICHIBANNNNNNNNNN, GOALLLLLLLLLL

Nanba: high-scale gardener or theater actor Saeko: Ascended girl group member who branched off from the duo she was doing with her sister Nanoha. Dipping into acting. I would see as a professional dancer too a regular at dancing with the stars type stuff

Adachi: Senior Actor.

Eri: News presenter?

Han Joongi: Visual of kpop group (group the caliber of DBSK or ZE:A)

Zhao: Son of a rich Chinese businessman, nobody is sure where he actually lies since he touches a little bit at everything. But he is a heavy and popular presence in social media. You can find in all kinds of variety show/reality tv but he getting more credits for his cooking skills and inventions getting him top class restaurants. RGG’s Huang Zi Tao.

Masumi Arakawa: Japanese morgan freeman

Masato Arakawa/ ryo aoki: A son of a wealthy man who seems to do well with his acting career.

Ishioda: Rival MC of various shows.

Jo sawashiro: Lawyer

Mabuchi: architect

Seoghui: Solo singer/dancer with her back up dancers. Hajime Ogasawara: Kpop member turned actor

Nick ogata: MC of all types of shows. Radio host. Walking TMZ.

JUDGES EYES/LOST JUDGEMENT

Yagami: Actor or baseball player.

Kaito: Boxer Tesso: Olympic athele (mhhhh gymnastics or athletism)

Higashi: Classical musical player or conductor, people still scratiching their head how the heck he met kaito

Sugiura: new generation kpop group member. Like the new hot stuff these days (ATEEZ, Stray Kids type stuff) Tsukumo: music composer like yasutaka Nakata or a really lucrative indie gamer/youtuber

Hamura: Senior Actor (who can get away with sexual assault charges)

Kuroiwa: Top class actor with a Gold-tier PR team.

Kyoko amasawa: that girl who lead in show like idol school, aspiring top scale idol praised for being rebellious and not caring what people think of her. In a group like Le Sserafim.

Kengo: Professional BMX-er and your rapper who somehow made it trough shows like show me the money. Hoshino: overlooked k-pop band member

Akutsu: basketball player

Soma: a dude full of cash who owns a lot of stuff (like akutsu’s basketball team)

Sawa-sensei: Miss meteo.

#judgement headcanons #judge eyes #lost judgment #rgg #yakuza #rgg headcanons #rgg imagines #yakuza imagines #lost judgement headcanons #like a dragon #ryu ga gotoku #ryu ga gotoku headcanons #imagines #headcanons #kiryu kazuma #majima goro

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weirdbabe · 1 year

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Way back, i was one of those who judged kpop and their fans. it was during my elementary years. honestly, i tried to join my friends but i just couldn't understand their 'weirdness', the term i used to label kpop fans.

I remember when i was in fifth grade it was the year EXO rose to popularity. every girl i knew in school were talking about them and fighting over their ultimate bias. i heard Luhan and Baekhyun's name over and over at that time. I even chose Luhan as my bias even if i didn't have any idea abt him including his face. i just wanted to join the trend but then I realized kpop was not for me.

Then, came seventh grade and blackpink rose to popularity. girls in my class were dancing to their music and i just found myself enjoying their music as well. still, i saw the rest of kpop and their fans as 'weirdos'... i just appreciated blackpink and lisa and rosé and jennie and jisoo and Kdramas. That was it.

2017, i watched scarlet heart. loved it but didn't recognize exo's baekhyun. i thought he was just an actor who is cute and funny.

2018, my bff introduced me to exo's kai. she said he was the hottest idol so far in her eyes. i just nodded and agreed with her because that was so true of her.

2019, heard about another exo comeback but didn't mind. i had other things to worry.

2020, the pandemic happened. my aunt watched this drama entitled Memories of Alhambra. EXO's Chanyeol was Shin hye's brother. I honestly went through with the drama because I found chanyeol interstingg. But here is the thing, i had no idea he was an idol and that he was chanyeol. i didn't know he was an exo member—the group that was really famous during my elementary and highschool years. I didn't know. i didn't know that was the day i'd start my exo-l journey.

so, chanyeol. I wanted to see his full face. I was curious because he looked really cute and handsome with glasses and bangs. I just thought he must be really handsome without those bangs and glasses covering his face. as a sucker for handsome men, i did what i do best.

i clicked the google app. searched for 'Memories of Alhambra cast'. Saw CHANYEOL and clicked his profile. I was taken back. literally, taken a back. i clicked on the images. no way, he is indeed good looking for pete's sake. i clicked on his wikipedia photo and it led me to his detailed profile. WAIT? AN EXO MEMBER? ok, interesting... i didn't know they can act.

i don't know why but i just got myself watching videos of chanyeol on youtube. i even followed his instagram account and exo's ig acct as well. i stalked the guy and exo's feed. handsome. they are all handsome. but, chanyeol? he was the apple of my eye.

so, youtube fed me with chanyeol videos. he is a funny and talented guy. but what made me like him the most was the fact that he can play instruments. i appreciated the piano because of him and up until now i still do (literally made me a yiruma fan and made me bought a piano).

so from chanyeol videos, i don't know but i eventually found myself watching exo videos. yn the yt algorithm.

now, exo. i loved their dynamics. there is something abt their relationship that is very true and pure. something unexplainable. something that is only between them. and i liked that.

i just slowly learned to love the boys. they helped me laugh when the pandemic made me sad. they made things bearable for me. so bearable that if it weren't for them i guess i would have never made it through my bad days. really bad ones.

however, i was still the same fifth grader who judged kpop music unless it was blackpinks music and bts' dynamite and butter. i never dared to listen to exo's music aside from their love shot song, the hottest ever.

but things happen. the stars connected me to their music. i was watching exo videos on yt while washing the dishes. the video was over and it played exo's love shot stage on music bank(?). i couldn't stop it from playing because my hands were full. i was glad that happened... dude?!! that stage was crazy. kai was crazy. everyone was. their vocals?? oh god. chen's high note? i was hooked.

that stage was what i replayed for days. then i decided to listen to tempo with my earphones. GUESS WHAT? I FELL INLOVE. harmonization. vocals. god what did i just hear?? they can sing SING.

and that was it. i got hooked to their music (title tracks atm). i watched reaction videos and saw that i was really right abt their great vocals.

then this guy. there is this guy. i kept on noticing him. not only bcoz of his looks but because of his voice. he was doh kyungsoo. there was something abt him that is attractive that he does not force and that was how chanyeol bid goodbye as my ultimate bias. 😭🫶

i became a kyungsoo fan thru yt videos. from his song covers up to his films. in fact, 100 days my prince was the least expected drama i thought i would watch. it was crazy good and funny. he was just built different. a really great one indeed.

july 2021, i discovered stan twtr. i had always been a youtube-l. i regretted being late because i never had the chance to join kyungsoo's vlive after his discharge from the military. but still i was ok since july was the month the exo's decided to drop dftf. I JOINED THE HYPE AND I WAS SO EXCITED. i became their fan evenmore but i didn't label myself as an exo-l yet because i didn't know we were called that HAHAHAHA

since then, i was there. from dftf to kyungsoo's first album, kai's peaches, suho's grey suit, xiumin's brand new, kai's rover, to all the activities of the members. my day was not complete if i missed a single update.

i was there when the members started to come back from the military. i was there during their sm concert. i was there during their group performances. i was there but only online HAHAHAHA

and now, issues... i was trained by senior-ls already and so it is not surprising. I JUST WANT TO END THIS ALREADY KAY GRABE ONE BOOK SIGURO IF MAGPADAYON PAKO AHHAHAHAHA BASTA I LOVE EXO SO MUCH, NO ONE CAN BEAT THEM

yes, i have been a fan of exo for 3 years now and i have never been this invested to a kpop group. they were not the ones who introduced me to kpop but they are the reason why i stayed.

i treat them as my soulmates... i met them at the right time... i cannot imagine leaving... i will always stand by their side no matter what happens eyyyyy

#iloveyouEXO

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tays-daisy · 1 year

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hi!! :> i sent an ask to another blog asking about bearding contracts but i don't think they ever responded, so i figured you may have an answer!

is it possible to legally have a beard contract?? i don't understand how that would work, and if it's possible to have a bearding contract that IS legally binding that seems a bit messed up 😭 or is it just an NDA?

what exactly would the beard get out of it? money? and do you think these contracts are common?

idk, it's just kind of wild to me 🤔 it's like people in Hollywood are living on an entirely different planet

I want to start by saying that I'm just a regular person with no more ties or familiarity with Hollywood than you. All I have are guesses and assumptions about how things work.

So yeah, I would think a bearding contract is pretty similar to an NDA. In the "regular" corporate world, people can be made to sign NDAs before they are hired to start on projects. The project usually lasts a pre-specified length of time that the person is hired for and expected to perform their job duties during. If an NDA is signed, the content of the project cannot be discussed at any point, whether or not they stay the duration of the project.

Now I assume a bearding contract would look pretty similar to a strict employment contract. Kpop stars have to sign INSANE contracts that control what they eat, wear, when they sleep, who they're seen with, etc. All for the hope of the benefit of being a kpop star. Bearding contracts probably aren't quite that strict, but it all depends on who it's for. I imagine there are some pretty specific demands people want to put in there because your partner will reflect back on you.

On to the "why" of it all. Taylor was seen as a "serial dater," someone who couldn't keep a man. She wanted to stop having every step of her love life dissected by the GP, so she got a beard. For 7 years, she had the luxury of being able to date around, talk to different people, be single, just live her life, all while the GP thought she'd "settled down."

Joe was NOBODY before he started dating Taylor. It should have skyrocketed his career. Turns out you have to be a better actor for that, but he still has much more name and face recognition. I have no idea how their contract would work, but they would both benefit quite a lot from its existence. I am honestly not sure who would pay who in that arrangement; it seems like Tay could easily charge Joe for the chance to be famous (and viewed as straight).

#i hope that made sense #it's late #i'm tired #bearding #PR contracts

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otakusmart · 1 year

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A Star in Sky: Astro's Moonbin Dies at Age 25

Gone from our sight but never from our hearts. Moon Bin, known professionally as Moonbin, was a South Korean singer, actor, dancer, and model under the label Fantagio. He was a member of the South Korean boy group Astro. He acted in Kdramas like Boys over Flowers, At Eighteen, and Soul Plate. He is a talented singer and charming actor. He is widely applauded for his dance moves and vocals. On Wednesday, the whole Kpop heard the devastating news.

Astro's Moonbin dies at age 25

Astro's Moonbin has left all of us and gone to heaven. Korea is mourning the loss of its talented idol Astro's Moonbin. Moonbin is always a charming and happy idol. He has always been friendly with other members and had a soft spot in the hearts of AROHA. On Wednesday, April 19, his manager reported that he was found dead in his home at around 8.10 AM in the Gangnam district of Seoul. Korean Police suspect that he may have taken his own life. It was reported that Moonbin's dear friend and bandmate MJ had taken an urgent leave from the military, and another mate Cha Eun Woo was off to Coachella, so he will be coming back and be present for the final rites.

Astro's Moonbin agency replies

Moonbin's Sister, Moon Sua, will be the chief mourner. Fantaigo has responded that Moonbinha left all of us and became a star set in the sky. Fantiago confirmed this news with a letter: The agency wrote: "This is Fantagio. First and foremost, we would like to express our apology for delivering unfortunate and heartbreaking news. On April 19, ASTRO member Moonbin suddenly left us and became a star in the sky. It is incomparable to the grief of the bereaved families who have lost their beloved son and brother. Still, all ASTRO members, Fantagio colleagues, executives, and employees are mourning the deceased in great sorrow and shock. It pains our hearts to deliver the sudden news to the fans who have supported Moonbin and given him generous love. It is more heartbreaking because we know the heart of the deceased, who always loved and thought of the fans more than anyone else. We sincerely ask that everyone refrain from making speculative or malicious reports so that the bereaved families, who are sad by the sudden tragic news, can commemorate and say their goodbyes to the deceased. Following the wishes of the bereaved families, the funeral will be held as quietly as possible, with only family, friends, and company colleagues attending. Once again, we express our deepest condolences on the last journey of the deceased." Growing concerns about idols debuting at a young age and dealing with stress have been serious issues. Debuting at a young age has been a concern because it widely affects idols' mental and physical health. - Sulli was a famous K-pop girl group f(x) member. She is widely renowned for rebelling against the conservative K-pop society. She died on October 14 2019, due to huge backlash and hateful comments online. Maybe she has been strong for too long. - SHINee singer, best known by his stage name, Jonghyun — revealed the depth of his struggles with depression before he died Monday. He shared his depression issues through his suicide letter. The team of Otakusmart pays its condolences to Moonbins's family. We hope he rests in peace. Read the full article

#Astro'sMoonbin #Astro'sMoonbindeath

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eunoiagrls · 2 years

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WHO iS REN? . . . ─ i: basic part.

𓏲 𔘓 ─ ٬٬ birth name :: Satō Mayumi ❪ 佐藤まゆみ ❫.

𓏲 𔘓 ─ ٬٬ stage name :: Ren ❪ 렌 ❫.

𓏲 𔘓 ─ ٬٬ Korean name :: Moon Suji ❪ 문수지 ❫.

𓏲 𔘓 ─ ٬٬ English name :: Moon Elodie.

𓏲 𔘓 ─ ٬٬ nicknames :: Reno, Mayu, Yumi, Reni.

𓏲 𔘓 ─ ٬٬ weight :: 48kg

𓏲 𔘓 ─ ٬٬ height :: 1.62cm.

𓏲 𔘓 ─ ٬٬ date of birth :: October, 26 2001

𓏲 𔘓 ─ ٬٬ zodiac sign :: Scorpio ❪ tropical ❫, Snake ❪ chinese ❫.

𓏲 𔘓 ─ ٬٬ mbti :: Estj

𓏲 𔘓 ─ ٬٬ place of birth :: Tohoku, Japan.

𓏲 𔘓 ─ ٬٬ language :: Japanese ❪ native ❫, Korean ❪ fluid ❫ and English ❪ advanced ❫.

𓏲 𔘓 ─ ٬٬ gender :: Cisgender female.

𓏲 𔘓 ─ ٬٬ pronouns :: She/her.

𓏲 𔘓 ─ ٬٬ sexual orientation :: Lesbian.

𓏲 𔘓 ─ ٬٬ face claim :: Yeojin ❪ Loona ❫

𓏲 𔘓 ─ ٬٬ voice claim :: Yuna ❪ ITZY ❫

. . . ─ ii: carrer

𓏲 𔘓 ─ ٬٬ agency :: Dreams Music ❪ 2017 - present ❫

𓏲 𔘓 ─ ٬٬ training period :: 1

2 years ❪ 2017 - 2018 ❫

𓏲 𔘓 ─ ٬٬ group :: Eunoia.

𓏲 𔘓 ─ ٬٬ positions :: main rapper, vocalist, sub dancer, maknae.

𓏲 𔘓 ─ ٬٬ instagram :: @ renilyv

. . . ─ iii: personal part.

𓏲 𔘓 ─ ٬٬ family :: Mother, father, older brother, younger sister, and younger brother.

𓏲 ─ She is the daughter of Satō Daiki, a famous Japanese actor and Satō Azumi, a famous Japanese singer, for which many Japanese when they found out that she would be in a kpop group began to support the group. Also his older brother is a world famous model, Satō Haru.

Ren's life was always full of cameras, music and action so she always had in mind that she wanted to be a famous singer like her mom and make her parents and siblings proud. And she did.

Ren virtually auditioned at various agencies including Source Music, SM Entertainment and of course his current company Dream Music. His father said that when she was accepted into Dreams Music she cried all day with happiness. And he cried with her too.

His parents said that when Ren had to travel to South Korea, the farewell was hard and they couldn't stop crying, there were some tears of joy and others of sadness. Even so, they were sure that everything would be fine and that she would become a star.

#─ ʚ eunoia ; ren ɞ 𓂅 𔘓 #fictional kpop groups #fictional idol profile #idol oc #idol au #kpop au #fictional kpop profile #fictional kpop idol #ʚ eunoia ɞ

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kdramaxoxo · 4 years

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Could you please recommend me the most fluffy dramas you've watched without much angst (and shitty male leads 😒)? I'm going through some rough stuff in my life and while i don't usually watch dramas like this now i don't have any emotions to invest in something serious. As for this kind of dramas 've only seen Touch your heart even though it had this unnesesarry stalker storyline i liked it (mostly because of Yoo In Na's smile but anyways 🌞). Thanks in advance!

Oh hon, I’m so sorry you’re going through a rough patch :( This calls for an emergency fluff list ASAP.

Emergency K-Drama Fluff (low angst, sweet boys):

Have a Nice Dessert: If you’re looking for low angst and a super soft boy, this is your drama!! It’s a web drama (youtube) about a girl who loves photographing desserts and the boy who likes her. Like all web dramas, it’s short, and there’s really no time for angst and breakups :)

Eulachacha Waikiki / Laughter In Waikiki: I hope you’re ready for a crazy amount of unlikely situations and nutty hijinks because this show is probably one the most silly ones I’ve ever watched. It follows a group of friends who own a hostel so it’s a slice of life drama. At certain points I was like “this is TOO silly” but I’m glad I stuck with it cause it was so hilarious. Plus, the baby is a star!

Gaduri Sushi: A cute web drama (youtube) about a tarot reading sushi restaurant owner who gets a new neighbor. It’s funny and sweet and the angst is very low.

Top Management: Adorable short episode drama (youtube) about a girl who can see the future and becomes the rookie manager for a kpop band. Fun and easy and lots of cute boys (plus they seem to be setting it up for another season…)

Shopping King Louie: This adorable fluffy drama is full of k-drama nonsense and I LOVE IT! It’s got amnesia, a rich heir, and is very trope heavy but sweet as hell. If you’re looking for light-hearted fun, with very innocent romance (think hand holding, piggy backs and PG kisses) this is for you! Great Soundtrack as a bonus.

Why Secretary Kim?: You mentioned Touch Your Heart and this is made by the same people so it has similar qualities. There is angst but it’s light (like Touch Your Heart) and the angst is unrelated to the adorable relationship, which IS adorable. Plus, no breakup!

Kiss Goblin: This is a short web drama (youtube) featuring a Goblin who has to earn emotions in order to become human. It’s a bit silly and low budget but I love the leads together - the goblin is so so sweet; he’s my favorite web drama actor. There is a little angst but because it’s a web drama it lasts literally 10 minutes.

Her Private Life: Park Min Young really knows how to pick dramas. I loved this one about a museum curator who is secretly a fangirl obsessed with an idol. It’s fun and fluffy but does have a very mild childhood trauma thing with his mother but I mean, 99% of dramas like this do?

The Best Hit / Hit The Top: A famous 90′s boyband dude travels into the future and meets up with his family and friends in this really cute drama featuring Yoon Shi Yoon. I LOVE Yoon Shi Yoon in pretty much everything but this role was made for him - he is hilarious. It’s a slice of life but features the k-pop music industry so the setting is unique.

Touch Your Heart: A sweet, silly and very mild rom com about a serious boss and his hallyu star secretary. This show was an obvious response to the chemistry that Lee Dong Wook and Yoo In Na had in Goblin so it was nice to see them together again. Yoo In Na is such a fun person to watch!

Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-Joo: Joon-Hyung is a sweet and doting beta male who falls for Bok-Joo really hard, like puppy dog hard. He loves her for the tom-boy she is and respects her athletic prowess. These two are adorable together and there are TONS of cute scenes with them on dates and cuddling.

#kdrama #emergency kdrama supply #only light and fluffies #kdrama recommendations #i love a list #touch your heart #kiss goblin #the best hit #whats wrong with secretary kim

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jknerd · 5 years

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FOP AU: Chip Skylark

Name: Chippington "Chip" Skylark III Age: 18 Occupation(s): Singer, songwriter, dancer, model, voice actor, actor Aliases: God's greatest creation, Skylark the Third, Friend(s): Timmy, Skip Sparkypants (sometimes) Interest(s): Singing, his shiny teeth, making his fans happy, hanging with his friend Timmy Relative(s): Chip Skylark II (father), Chippington Skylark (grandfather) Character Chip Skylark is a famous singing sensation and one of Timmy's friends. He is also a popular celebrity that is well known around Dimmsdale (both girls and boys). A parody of Justice Timberlake, Chris Kirkpatrick, and some of male KPOP stars. Among the celebrities, he is actually the most kind and friendly to people regardless of the people's status or background. He is well-known for his very shining teeth and bright "jewel-like" eyes when he smiles, which are the same trademark Timmy has. Background Chip came from the long family line of great singers, as his grandfather Chippington Skylark was famous jazz singer. His father was a famous musical actor. Chip Skylark debuted as trot singer, but the record company finds his voice too good for trot, and he became a big hit by singing various genres of song. Not only as a singer, but he also worked as voice actor, writing songs for TV series or film OST. Despite fame he gained, he never had a time for himself. During one time, he was riding to the Dimmsdale Dome to a live concert but as the car malfunctioned, he had no choice but ask for the phone at the home close by, which was Turner's house. Timmy was reluctant due to her dislike towards celebrities (because Britney stepped over the gift Timmy made for her at the red carpet week ago) and belief of all celebrities are arrogant with god-complex persona. So she kept her in her house, hoping the fans would be disappointed with his absence and stop loving him. However, she felt guilty when learning he is genuinely a goodhearted young man. To fix her mistake, she helped him escape the house where Vick was also there (Vick HATES celebrities with same prejudice he shared with Timmy). Due to the experience, both Timmy and Chip developed close friendship.

#Fairly Oddparents #FOP #FOP fanarts #Chip #Chip Skylark

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dojae-huh · 4 years

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1/2 Actually, I would say that Jaehyun matches Korean beauty standards pretty well. This is my opinion as a Chinese who has been observing the differences in East Asian countries’ beauty standards. Chinese Kpop fans often say that Jaehyun has a typical face that Koreans like, while his face doesn’t really match Chinese beauty standards(Taeyong does). Chinese really like very prominent and eye-catching features and Koreans like more balanced and softer features.

2/2 One typical example will be Suzy from missa. She is very popular in Korea, while a lot of Chinese think she has comfortable features but is not pretty enough. Chinese like strong contrast and ‘rich’ features. Koreans are the opposite. Well, this is the opinion of me from an East Asian’s point of view. Don’t know if this will provide any useful information to you.

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Ah, but Suzy is a female, a female is like a child, so rounder, smoother features equals youth and freshness. Not to forget she starred in a hit tv-series. And she has charisma. Even with her subpar acting her character was very appealing.

Jae tics off several requarements, but not the whole list. That’s why I said he is not “the most handsome”. His visuals don’t make him famous outside of the group on a big scale. I listen to Koreans. When it’s Taeyong, plastic surgeons want him to be the model for advertisement, when it’s Jaehyun, they say he looks like a rich boy. There are two standarts: for idols and for actors. Actors are considered more beautiful. Like on Produce 101, when judges talked about a trainee face, the highest praise was “he looks like an actor” (ex. Ong Seongwu). The members often say how stunned they are by Tae’s beauty on a daily basis, but don’t say it about Jae (his body and abs are praised more).

Kang Daniel is super popular now, but it’s the luck with the programme and his personality that helped. He had been a trainee for 5 years afterall.

The beauty standarts change, and the charisma is more important. Jaehyun is usually the first among all NCT members in brand reputation.

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kehayesmj-blog · 5 years

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Happiness and Celebrity Worship: So What’s the Problem?

Imagine being in the shoes of a world-famous pop culture icon. You’re sitting in the back seat of an expensive limousine as it comes to a halt, and your manager and bodyguards direct you towards a fancy building for a celebrity interview. Upon reaching the stage, you see everyone is listening carefully, anticipating a spark of inspiration. With the awareness that you are about to change a large percentage of the world’s disposition, you are ready to inform everyone of not only your life, but to change how they live theirs as well. You have a message to get across in this interview, so you stand up, clear your throat, and proudly proclaim that birds aren’t real.

This is a situation that has occurred numerous times over. The bird theory is interchangeable with any other outlandish claim or theory, but the concept is constant. Nearly thirty percent of people under the age of 30 would quit their jobs for fame alone and follow the lifestyles of celebrities in some form. Furthermore, do you know someone that has obsessed over or “stanned” a popular artist, possibly to the point of intimate attraction? It turns out that these two circumstances are rooted in the same mental ailment. If the issue seems familiar, it is because celebrity influence affects everyone, whether they want it to or not. This has some merits to it but can also harm large groups of people in various ways such as indoctrination and stalking. Many lives are affected in some way more than just culturally because of this. Perhaps your friend is adopting their favorite musical artist’s fashion sense, has social media accounts dedicated to their favorite actor, or even has pictures of them printed out to fit their aesthetic. All these tendencies are in some way a form of celebrity worship. Dr. Lynn McCutcheon of the North American Journal of Psychology separates celebrity fandom into “Entertainment Social Stage,” which defines more casual followers and people that simply seek entertainment on a non-serious level, and “Worshipper” which defines obsessive tendencies such as studying a person’s whereabouts, owning an unnecessarily large amount of keepsakes related to a popular person, or extreme sexual fixation. With further research conducted on mental health since the mainstream rise of celebrity obsession culture, a much more psychological case has appeared that defines and details every variant of celebrity worship. There have been cases of people led to harmful lifestyles simply because it was what their favorite movie star thought was beneficial, such as with Charlie Sheen’s and Jenny McCarthy’s fans believing in their conspiracy theories. Without awareness or recognition, this is a problem that could potentially mislead people at an even larger scale. With governments picking up on the relevance of certain celebrities, the case of celebrity worship is beginning to gain influence on the national level in some nations. In recent years, South Korea has made a statement and endorsement for their native pop stars under the condition that they abide by the nation’s values, directly affecting the opinions of fans worldwide. Whether a case of icon obsession is affecting a loved one’s mental health, radicalization, or personal economic decisions, celebrity fixation is a topic with many influential details. Obsession over celebrities and their values is an informational and important study for the good of modern mental health, and the importance of recognizing this is crucial to furthering personal fulfillment.

Misinformation and Radicalization

People have been falling for the unusual ideologies followed by celebrities since celebrity culture’s shift to pop culture in the early 20th century. However, their ideas were not seen as widely until the late 20th century with pop culture becoming more experimental and expressive. While musical artists such as Elvis Presley, Mick Fleetwood, and Dave Mustaine were always known for some strange views, actors, hosts, and talk personalities usually kept their views to themselves with minimal exception. With social media’s rise, it is much easier to convince the public of things that would normally be seen as extreme or nonsensical. In 2006, Patricia Heaton convinced a group of followers to refuse and deny embryonic stem cell research. This view became such a hot topic because she had proposed to discontinue stem cell research, contraceptives, and pregnancy termination to a group that continues to believe and support these ideas to this day due to her prestige. Many groups focused on unsupported claims, extremism, and conspiracy theories have seen an increase in subscription because of how easy it has become to follow polarizing figures. Charlie Sheen has come out as a Truther and a conspiracy theorist, going as far as making a film with undertones of false information about the attack. Sheen claims: “There are still a couple of things just rooted in simple physics that beg some measure of inquiry. I was in contact with a lot of family members and they were in concert with a lot of my questions.” Jenny McCarthy has gone on record claiming that vaccines gave her child autism. Podcast host and researcher George Ouzounian has stated that “Celebrity worship is the reason we have anti-vaxxers,” attributing the entirety of the anti vax movement to the misinformation of celebrities. “We have people like Jenny McCarthy going on record saying vaccines gave her child autism and her fans just eat that up. Correlation must cause causation, right? She failed to control variables such as chemicals, clothes, plastic, known carcinogens, water, etc,” says Ouzounian in episode 29 of his podcast The Biggest Problem in the Universe.

Another example of blindly following an affluent figure is Stan Culture. “Stan” culture is a popular form of celebrity fandom and worship in both the West and Eastern hemispheres. The western term is derived from an Eminem song titled Stan (short for Stalker-Fan) where the rapper goes in depth about the story of a fan that designs his lifestyle around the lyrics in Eminem’s music. He misinterprets the insane, violent nature of the rapper’s on-stage persona as a lifestyle that he actually lives, causing the fan to go insane and murder his girlfriend in reference to another of Eminem’s horror story type songs called “Kim”. The cautionary nature of the song Stan’s message ironically did not get across to the current generation of celebrity “Stans”, as they view the stalkerish nature of the Stan character from the song as something to look up to, just as Stan looked up to the character Eminem plays in some of his music. Stan Culture causes fans and obsessors to defend everything their idol does, even if it is misguided. “You got some issues Stan, I think you need some counseling. To help your ass from bouncing off the walls when you get down some” says Eminem in the song “Stan” referring to the stalker fan needing medical and mental health attention. Further evidence of this can be found in a case of Ariana Grande not understanding many subjects of appropriation she had used in a music video led to her fans misleadingly defending her with no juxtaposition. Naijaeaux on Twitter says “All Arianna does is drop hits and mind her business, but y’all continue to critique and harass her.” This culture of “my idol can do no wrong” completely removes the subjective concept of art and halts many conceptual conversations that are important for analyzing music.

Stan writing to Eminem, https://twitter.com/mscaitlin55/status/846561100263034882

Stan culture goes even further, however, when focus is on more socially involved governments. Motoko Rich, foreign bureau chief for New York Times reported that North Korea requested eleven kpop acts to perform for their leader as a form of covert diplomacy. Meanwhile, nearly 40 million people claim themselves to be dedicated fans of the Korean pop music genre with feral hive-minded communities swarming every crevice of social media. The implications of North Korea’s propaganda system getting ahold of one of the world’s most flourishing genres would naturally scare almost anyone. Additionally, the People’s Republic of China, a nation currently known for brainwashing internment camps and suppressing many of what the West knows as inalienable freedoms, has recently seen quiet support from NBA personalities such as Adam Silver and LeBron James. After being asked to share thoughts on the topic multiple times, both personalities had refused to speak up on any of the Hong Kong protests in the past out of fear they would lose endorsements from China. When nations have access to beloved personalities that are generally looked highly upon, it becomes easier for them to accumulate supporters to justify their causes.

Kim Jong Un with South Korean group Red Velvet, https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2018/04/02/598812832/kim-jong-un-was-deeply-moved-after-k-pop-performance

Another case of the strange ideologies of popular figures being followed by a growing crowd is Terryology. A study by Dave Schilling, General editor at Grantland covers a firsthand interview between the author and actor Terrence Howard. Terrence Howard is proposing a new way of thinking and problem solving coined “Terryology,” that involves the idea that scientific and mathematical theories can be solved in a minimalistic form of analysis and still make sense. For example, the expression 1x1 having the number 1 stated twice means that there are two of them, and therefore equals 2 and not 1. Many fans of this ideology have begun converting their mathematics to Terryology despite the world still running on the normal mathematic system we have today. Some critics view this as a misinformed, dropout mathematics major turned movie star losing his mind in the fame that surrounds him. However, many news outlets and art enthusiasts view this as an expression of creative integrity that should be considered a legitimate theory. “In that piece, Mr. Howard explains a philosophy for life so powerful, so revolutionary, so magnificent, that most people who read about it were driven mad or had their heads swell up like the bad guy from Total Recall.” -Schilling

Mental Health

Aside from altering people’s thoughts ideologically, celebrity obsession also has a strong effect on the mental health of people that follow celebrities. Professor and journalist Neil Peterson conducted a study in 2005 claiming that teenage girls tend to have lower self-confidence if they constantly follow celebrities online or in the media. Recently, another study of 437 Hungarian citizens found that people that considered themselves celebrity worshippers also tended to have higher levels of problematic internet use, maladaptive daydreaming, and desire to be famous. These individuals are led to not being as productive and not being in the mindset to make their lives better due to always looking up to someone that has no direct effect on their life. In conclusion, overall happiness and productivity are hindered by celebrity worship. In 2013, more cases of schizophrenia emerged with the leading cause being cultural icons. This may not have been the intention of the celebrities, but some fans of them with less than stable home and mental lives may find this to be a difficult and life halting struggle. In Hungary, internet addiction has been linked to obsession with popular figures for purposes such as envy of appearance and infatuation. Celebrity worship is prevalent among all people but is most present among teenage girls up to age 17. This is a time where most people are still discovering their identity as a person and will likely have a long-term effect on them for the rest of their lives. Due to the age range this disorder affects mostly, there is a higher potential for identity crises later in life. This early age of developing issues also has the largest margin of change to financial literacy and decision making. Adults that spent their adolescent years obsessing over famous people may not know that those people spend all their money carelessly due to their wealth and could cause others to pursue the same luxuries without an enormous bank account to fall back on. School of Psychology professor at the University of Leicester, John Maltby, says “Significant relationships were found between attitudes toward celebrities and body image only among female adolescents. Multiple regression analyses suggested that Intense‐personal celebrity worship accounted for unique variance in scores in body image.” In addition to mental health, celebrity obsession can also affect financial stability. Many communities near or below the poverty line struggle with addiction and abuse, and celebrity worship can be seen as a form of this. From a distance, obsessing over another person’s personal life doesn’t seem as bad as abusing substances, but they both have the same psychological dependence and reaction when consuming both contents.

Chairman ZeBron, https://lushsux.bigcartel.com/

Diagnosis of Celebrity Worship Symptoms

In addition to mental health, celebrity obsession can also affect financial stability. As Daniel Guilbert stated in The Science Behind the Smile, one way to determine happiness is to break it into statistics. Many communities near or below the poverty line struggle with addiction and abuse, and celebrity worship can be seen as a form of this. From a distance, obsessing over another person’s personal life doesn’t seem as bad as abusing substances, but they both have the same psychological dependence and reaction when consuming both contents. Robert A. Reeves from the Augusta State University Department of Psychology reports that “Celebrity worship, materialism, and compulsive buying were significantly related to lower self‐concept clarity and to lower levels of well‐being, supporting both absorption‐addiction and empty self-theories” -Celebrity Worship, Materialism, Compulsive Buying, and the Empty Self by Robert Reeves. Celebrity Worship Disorder has also proven to make mental health cases worse. This is proven by more reports by Reeves emerging in 2013 of worsening cases of schizophrenia due more to cultural icons than any other sources. The same study shows that this fixation on pop culture is mostly a coping mechanism for other symptoms including depression and ADHD. These coping methods are an incredibly unhealthy way of dealing with personal problems, as it does nothing to further the mental state of anyone involved. The subgroups of this diagnosis can more easily help find solutions if recognized.

The first stage of rehabilitation is recognizing what the problem is, which is why groups of diagnoses are so valuable. Celebrity Worship syndrome is a registered mental and medical disorder that Gary Laderman groups into three categories: Simple Obsession (70-80% of cases- between individuals that have shared personal relationships with each other), Love Obsessional (stalking, convinced that they are in a relationship with the individual), and Erotomantic (less than 10%, believe that the celebrity is in love with them and sending subliminal messages to the person, and often a symptom of schizophrenia). All of which are diagnosable disorders that victims can seek therapy or rehabilitation for. George Ouzounian from The Biggest Problem in the Universe expands by connecting these examples to a shift in culture and the fact that youth are more commonly swayed based on culture and wealth (Episode 29 of the podcast).

John Maltby also acknowledged three ways that people can begin their celebrity obsession: celebrity products, personal characteristics of the celebrity, and peer influence. These are all cultural aspects that reflect how modern society is constructed to revolve around these people. “Thematic analysis revealed that 3 major factors influenced participants to become celebrity worshipers: celebrity products, personal characteristics of the celebrity, and peer influence.” -John Maltby, School of Psychology. HaengRyang Huh from Sejong University brings up digit ratios and their importance in finding out exactly who is most affected by mental obsessions. “The digit ratios for the entire sample were positively correlated with CAS scores. Our research found evidence of a significant positive correlation between 2D:4D ratios and celebrity worship in females but not in males, which indicated that females with lower digit ratios were less likely to worship celebrities” -HaengRyang Huh. The gender ratio of celebrity worship varies and affects the level of loyalty to an individual someone has. Additionally, depending on the year and trending names, the ratio fluctuates even more.

The most troubling element of this issue is the amount of lives taken by celebrity worship. Romeo Vitelli, Ph.D. reported on an international connection involving copycat suicides. In Japan, a trend arose when famous pop singer Yukiko Okada committed suicide in 1986. Since then, chain suicides in the country enacted by fan groups were referred to as Yukiko Syndrome. Romeo Vitelli claims the trend began in 1774 when Johann Goethe’s book The Sorrows of Young Werther led to an influx of suicides duplicating the main character of the story. Studies on the chain suicides revealed that nearly all of the participants had existing mental health problems throughout their lives. “In understanding why celebrity suicides can be contagious, social learning theory suggests that the example of a well-known celebrity committing suicide may make them into role models for vulnerable fans to imitate. Once suicide is seen as an acceptable behavior, people experiencing depression may be more likely to commit suicide as a result.” -Vitelli, 2016. Social learning theory can be drawn as the cause of many celebrity related actions, and it is important to consider that as a factor to why these individuals are followed.

Origins of Copycat Suicides, https://www.slideshare.net/gauravhtandon1/copycat-suicides-when-suicides-comes-in-clusters

Parasitic Relationships

Celebrity culture on a wide scale has undoubtedly led to many trends and movements, but how do people with this platform have the power to influence opinions? The answer is rooted in the personalities of each popular figure and how they are perceived. A stern person known for minimal emotion may not have the same public image as someone that is often affectionate to others. It is somewhat the matter of whether you would prefer Gordon Ramsay or Lady Gaga to be your grandparents. One option is short tempered and often hard to emote with, while the other appears more considerate and carries their heart on their sleeve for all to empathize with. If the audience sees a humble, welcoming celebrity, they will feel more at home watching or listening to them. Down to earth celebrities tend to have the highest influence on people’s values and thoughts. These relationships are occasionally very beneficial for both audience and performer, causing the rise of many positive movements. The positive appearance of the trend of following celebrities encourages more people to follow them. There are still a handful of beneficial traits that come with celebrity culture such as confidence, individuality, perseverance, and humility. Many cultural figures today have improved society in some form. Bill Gates has committed to a foundation called the Giving Pledge where he and other billionaires donate a majority of their income to new charities to bring notice and support for lesser known causes. Upon his first year as a charting artist, Chance the Rapper immediately started a tradition where he donates $1 million to schools in his hometown Chicago, as well as actively participating in Faith in Action. Elton John actively participates in and has created multiple foundations spreading awareness for sexually transmitted diseases and support for those who suffer from them. Conversely, some pop culture icons take the route of studying policies firsthand in an effort to connect more people with how society can be improved. The late Nipsey Hussle is another person well known for his charity work and had planned to meet with the Los Angeles police department to learn about and discuss alternative solutions to the gang violence he grew up with. All of these people have made positive changes to how people seek to improve their communities and have plenty of supporters participating in their causes.

Elton John speaking at the anniversary of the Aids Foundation, https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/8030099/elton-john-celebrates-25-years-of-aids-foundation

Although celebrities often have good intentions, their fans may not. This is once again attributed to the fact that celebrity worship is caused by the fan’s mental health situation. Even if a pop icon promotes a positive relationship between themselves and the fans, there could still be a dangerous obsession by the fan. Korea calls this relationship Sasaeng and is seen as normal for fans. Sasaeng are fans who will stalk and obsess over the most popular musical idols of the time, often resulting in devastation to the fan. Sasaeng, or fans, will also spend large amounts of money on traveling to meet their idols or buying excessive merchandise. Famous celebrities, as well as Stans, are often publicized without a clear image on whether their actions as obsessive fans are good or bad. Many people will find these statements, regardless of good or bad intention, as something to look up to and shape opinion based on. This is why fandoms for eastern pop groups have become so viral in the past decade. If being a feral fan is seen as a positive trait, more people will aspire to follow the trend. Due to so much attention being on these people in eastern countries, many of them are also required by contract to refrain from certain actions such as dating, stating opinions, or associating with certain people the labels and contractors have not approved. In Japan, a female member of a famous pop group, AKB47, was seen in public on a date with a boy and was later required by label officials to shave her head and apologize to both her fans and music group on camera. This strict image can sometimes even be too much for the celebrities to keep up with and reflect how strict and obsessive everyone involved is. Other people may feel entitled to forcing contact with famous people or may even feel they deserve special treatment from their idols. Furthermore, if an induvial has violent tendencies or disorders, celebrity obsession could amplify them. “On the periphery, however, resides a much smaller group of individuals who lack the ability to discriminate between their own private fantasies and the public figure’s behavior, believe they are entitled to pursue the figure, and may present a risk of violence.” -J. Reid Melloy, pg. 3 of Stalking, Threatening, and Attacking Public Figures : A Psychological and Behavioral Analysis.

As icon worship grows in popularity, it is important that ways to identify the trend grow with it. With so much stigma around the culture of celebrity worship, is it possible to support and follow a famous person without any of the burdens of mental health or misinformation? In simple terms, yes, as long as you’re able to educate yourself with more than one source and viewpoint. Knowing the positives and negatives of views and lifestyles is crucial to enlightenment. Therefore, it should be a priority to educate yourself from every angle on any type of new information you want to learn. This, along with prioritizing mental health will allow for a healthy experience following any public entertainer. Connecting happiness to life is mandatory for fulfillment and should never be compromised in favor of someone you’ve never met.

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solecize · 5 years

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REPLY 2009 ⠀ ⠀⠀.⠀⠀.⠀⠀.⠀(OR: 2009, YEAR OF US) — 004.

now playing: y.o.u (year of us) by shinee

summary: ten years ago, we found ourselves at a turning point in pop culture as the decade began to close. this was the year that brought the world obama, the death of michael jackson, and the highest grossing film of all time, avatar. however, in south korea, something big was brewing as well and it started off with infectious lyrics, colourful costumes, and sensational dance moves: kpop. the korean wave that started to build several years ago begins to find its footing in the international limelight in 2009. this was the golden era of kpop. this was the time of sorry, sorry. the debut of quite possibly the most different and groundbreaking girl group in korean entertainment, 2NE1. the rise of shinee, one of the most consistent boy bands of this era and beyond. the throne of bigbang would remain steady with their ventures into japan. and of course. . . snsd's gee that would solidify their place as the nation’s girl group and overtake their male counterparts. nothing can touch this legendary age.meanwhile, in the very city that milled and churned out these stars, eight teenagers were also coming to a certain close in 2009. youth was suddenly running out like grains of a darkened hourglass, as everything and everyone brought tension into their lives. where was the next step on their path? high school is nothing more than a cruel halfway point between childhood and adulthood, but this group of friends made the most out of it. after all, this is the youngest that they'll ever be. this age is the time where hopes rise higher than ever, where love burns the most passionately, and the desire for freedom expands the furthest. in 2009, we follow these teenagers' stories to the background music of the opening chapters of kpop's greatest legacies.but, ten years later at their high school reunion, where do we find them.

or: highschool!got7, dancecrew!got7, coming of age, school reunion angst, reader x ?

PRESENT DAY (08)

“Hey, what song is this?” Bambam was in the middle of drowning a champagne glass as soon as it was offered to him by red bow tied waiters with trays. The stereo system had been blasting the ever iconic ‘Poker Face’ by Lady Gaga before switching abruptly to a much more mellow tune led by a heavy drum and piano. The sound of the song filled the old gymnasium all around and generated many different reactions from attendees, from sighs to cheers.

Faces, both familiar and unfamiliar, began to slowly trickle into Haerin’s varnished gymnasium. Bambam and I remained at our assigned table in the back, but many rushed there, mostly for the attention of the famous actor. Half of these people didn’t even talk to either of us during high school, while the others were faces unrecognizable due to age or plastic. I bit back a smile upon encountering some that used to make my blood boil—I needed to let past prejudice die.

One of those faces happened to be Bae Suji, strutting in with as much poise as she had all those years ago.

I looked away, hoping that she wouldn’t notice me. “Sounds like SHINee. . .?” I said, unsure of myself.

“It’s Year of Us, isn’t it?”

Jinyoung appeared from behind me, settling into a seat at the table. He slid a shimmering CD case across the table towards us. I raised an eyebrow at him, wondering why he went back to the car for it, but then, I took a closer glance at the item. Scribbled with eight different signatures, I realized that it was one of the many mixes that the dance crew used over the course of senior year. I slipped it into my purse for later on, catching the look in his eyes.

Bambam snapped a finger. “Yeah! Hey,” he tilted his head at my brother, “how’d you know that?”

“They played it at our graduation. You guys don’t remember?” he said. The melody felt familiar, but the memory was so fuzzy that I couldn’t place my finger on it. Graduation was a day full of whirlwind experiences that it was hard to even pinpoint a singular one.

At that moment, the lights in the gym began to darken. The party was really about to get started and a round of cheers flared up, as the attendees raised their glasses. I felt a little bit out of place, watching others greet their old friends and exchange pleasantries. Maybe it was the inner hatred I had for other people, but I had yet to go out of my way to say hello to anyone.

Bambam seemed to notice this, as he nudged my side. “Oh, look who’s right there. Call her over!” He was referring to Suji and at that moment, I wanted nothing more than to fling myself into the sun.

“No!”

“Come on!” The Thailand native began to whine.

Jinyoung seemed to agree with him on this one. “Yeah, just this once. It’s not going to hurt.”

I wanted to retort a yes it will, but then she suddenly turned around. Our eyes met and it took a second for her face to contour into what I believed was faux enthusiasm, eyes wide and mouth formed into an ‘O’. I did the same, only my smile was spread thinner. I could hear her heels clicking even through the belting out of Lee Jinki.

It was as if she naturally drew attention like it was nothing. I noticed how people started to squint through the flashing neon lights from above, trying to make out everyone’s favourite Prom Queen. At her side towered a man with fair skin and blonde hair, sunglasses perched upon his face. The material of his all black suit shone under the light and seeing the way Suji dug her long fingernails into his sleeve, he appeared to be her date for the night.

“Suji! I can’t believe it’s really you!” I exclaimed, mustering up as much fervor that my body had.

Looking at her up close, it was evident that she had no ability to age. She still looked the same way she did when I first met her at the end of middle school, minus some baby fat in her cheeks. Suji’s face was fresh and glowing, free of makeup sans a swipe of peach lip gloss, and her light brown hair flowed in a curl to below her shoulders. Gorgeous, as she’d always been.

She squealed my name in response, pulling me in an all-too-tight embrace. “Wow, look at you! Oh. My. Gosh.” Suji started to shrill again and I attempted to echo her. People were beginning to stare.

“You look so much different! Did you lose weight?” Suji took my wrist and raised up my arm. “And your hair! I love the long bob, it’s so chic. You’ve gotten so much prettier since high school!” At the last statement, I was sure that I was going to lose it with her.

I looked around for help from my brother and Bambam, noticing the way Jinyoung was trying to hold in his laugh. “It’s nice to see you again, Suji.”

“Oh!” she said. “Right, it’s so wonderful you see you, too, Jaehyung—”

“—Jinyoung.”

The former cheerleader walked right past him and up to Bambam. Jinyoung and I exchanged looks, as I smirked at him. He polished off a glass of whatever drink he could get his hands on immediately.

“Bambam! Wow!” Suji pulled him into a similar hug, only it seemed like he actually didn’t mind. This was, after all, his senior year crush. “Noah and I absolutely adored you in The Shuttle!”

It took him a second to process that, looking between Suji and the tall man waiting behind her. “Noah?”

She giggled, as if she were waiting for that. “Guys—” she pulled the man closer by the wrist, “—this is Noah! My husband.”

There it was, her gloating point for the night. I couldn’t help but stare at the enormous rock that sat on her left hand, wrapped around the equally enormous bicep of her husband. A princess cut diamond ring with a rose gold band and smaller pink diamonds adorning the sides. No matter what she did, even the slightest bit of movement allowed for a beautiful luminescence.

“Noah. . .are you Noah Ward? The director?” Bambam gaped when the man removed his sunglasses. His face was tight and his body went completely frozen, as he was trying his very hardest to contain his emotions.

The other man nodded in response, a pearly white smile playing on his lips. “That’s me alright.” He held out his hand.

“I’M A HUGE FAN!” Bambam finally sputtered out and immediately took his hand in for a shake—or, several rapid shakes.

Showing no interest in watching him fangirl, I returned to my seat at our table, where Jinyoung already retreated to. He held his cellphone to his ear, appearing to be giving instructions to get through traffic to the person on the other line. I hoped it was who I thought it was, as our table of eight was barely full. As the evening progressed, I found myself growing anxious for the appearance of my old friends.

Suji followed me, sitting across with a glass of wine suddenly appearing at her hand.

“Oh, how adorable are they?” she cooed, looking over at Bambam and her husband talk about their careers.

“Just so sweet,” I murmured, not bothering to look as I rummaged through my purse for my phone. For whatever reason, that elected a gasp out of Suji and she squealed my name. “What? What is it?”

She grabbed my hand and brought it closer to her face for inspection. “How could you not mention it?”

My engagement ring wasn’t as colossal as Suji’s and it didn’t twinkle as easily as hers did, but the light glint couldn’t be missed. Sometimes, I even forgot that I wore it, since I never bothered taking it off when sleeping or showering. I didn’t plan on announcing it to anyone outside of the seven, so I remained nonchalant for the most part.

“Oh, well, yeah. . “ I trailed off. “We’ve been engaged for a while, but none of the wedding plans have really started. Busy lives.” The first part was true, while the latter bit I tried to exaggerate so that she wouldn’t feel bad about not hearing any word about it.

The story was that the two of us got engaged on a whim last summer without any idea of where and when it was going to happen. I explained that carefully to Suji, who thought it was just so cute how I was so spontaenous. It was just like us to do something like that. As of late, people were starting to bug us about the wedding, so we were trying to at least settle on a date. However, things were hard with our careers and especially with the news I was going to deliver tonight.

“Ooh, a ruby ring! It looks so, um, vintage.” She began to inspect my yellow gold ring, highlighted by a not-too-big, not-too-small blood stone.

“It was my fiancee’s mother’s ring.”

“Oh.” Suji cleared her throat at that and clapped her hands together. “Where did you guys meet?”

“Here.”

“Here?!” she exclaimed so loud that even Jinyoung’s eyes cut towards us in curiosity. “Wait! Do I know him? Is he coming tonight?”

Suji was surprisingly excited once hearing of the news, considering how little we got along in high school. I was taken aback by the fact that she even bothered with a conversation longer than a simple greeting, but she seemed genuinely interested in what was currently going on in my life.

A chair screeched and I looked over to see Jinyoung standing up.

“Guess who’s here?” he said.

MARCH 2009 (09)

Dad was almost always working the night patrol, so Jinyoung and I couldn’t see him during the day when he would be catching up on his sleep. This week, his entire shift schedule was temporarily changed, so the family had him during regular hours. We were sitting at our mahogany dining table one day with Infinite Challenge on in the background, while Jinyoung and I did our school work. Our father was tending to our dinner and mother was going through the bills that came in the mail earlier that day.

“Honey, where did you put the soy sauce?” he called out. He never got to make dinner for us and jumped at the chance to do so this week.

My mother replied, eyes fixated on the envelopes, “On the top shelf of the counter above the dish rack!”

With a sudden slam, Jinyoung shut his Korean textbook closed. He started to collect his notes and other books. I looked at my own sprawled out work, then back to him. We both started working at the same time, as soon as we got home, and yet, he managed to finish miles ahead of me.

“You’re done?” I gawked.

Jinyoung responded casually, “Yeah. So?” He noticed that I was still on the second question of my Calculus homework.

“You’re a whole freak of nature with that brain of yours, you know that?” I scoffed at him, not believing that we could possibly be related. Perhaps I should have been used to it by that point, considering his far more pristine report. There was also the fact that he was too many ranks ahead of me in school than I was willing to admit.

He pointed his black pen towards me. “Maybe it has to do with you taking, like, six breaks since we started.” I should’ve been used to it by now, considering in school, Jinyoung was too many ranks ahead of me than I was willing to say out loud.

“Like four, stop exaggerating! I needed to use the bathroom and check up on Facebook,” I quickly riposted and sent him a glare. Dad suddenly seemed to snap out of the trance that was watching his stew cook and poked his head out of the kitchen. I closed my eyes, bracing for the impact.

“I had to use the bathroom!” I countered.

“And check up on Facebook?”

The ruckus captured the attention of my father, pulling him away from his stew. He exited the kitchen, ladle at hand. A groan left my mouth. I could already feel the reprimand coming, something always being nitpicked at by my parents. I learned to tune them out, but it only backfired against me when they would realize that I wasn’t listening.

He narrowed his eyes at the two of us. “What are you two bickering about?” Dad noticed the way my school stuff was still messily spread out. “Are you having trouble with your work?”

“No,” I replied, a little too quickly.

Jinyoung cut in, “She takes a break every time she can’t figure something out to avoid it.”

He wasn’t wrong, but I continued to make sounds of disagreement. I could never figure out calculus no matter what I did. Math was never my strong suit and I knew that, so attempting the work felt extra discouraging because I knew failure was more likely. That, and my fan group on Facebook depended on my activity.

My mother peered at me through her circle glasses from across the table. “Cram school hasn’t ever helped you,” she said, “maybe you need a tutor, sweetheart.”

It took a lot of willpower to not slam my head onto the dining table. My bad, Jinyoung mouthed to me. This sparked a quieted discussion between our parents, while I watched the Ha & Su segment on the television. While it was true that cram school did nothing for my grades—most likely attributed to the fact that I often skipped or flat out didn’t pay attention—the idea of a tutor was not a fun one.

“It’s fine, I don’t need a tutor! I have Jinyoung,” I insisted.

“You’d sooner rake his eyes out than manage to learn something,” Mom scoffed.

Jinyoung and I did get along, as well as any siblings would, especially twins. However, we’d gone through this route before and quickly realized that my attention span was the same size as his patience, which led to arguments and insults galore. We were one in the same, except when it came to school.

Both of our parents looked at me, then at each other, then to Jinyoung as if he held the answers to the universe’s mysteries.

He started, “Well. . .” Jinyoung slumped in his seat and a ran a hand through his immaculate hair. “I know a few people. Hyoseop?”

“Ew.” I scrunched my nose at the name of the school playboy. Sure, he was quite smart, but there was no way I was putting myself in a closed space with just himself and I for any longer than twenty minutes.

“Jihyo?”

“She’s in my calc class and is definitely worse than me!”

Jinyoung didn’t look convinced, but continued on. “What about Yugyeom?” He raised an eyebrow at me.

That made my face curl up in distaste. “Yugyeom? Like, your friend Yugyeom?” I scoffed. “He’s a whole year younger than me!” Asking for help from a second year was nothing less than embarrassing and my pride weighed more than my need to pass my test.

He countered, “Yugyeom is also ranked second in his year! Even I ask him for help sometimes. He’s a genius and he’s a relatively nice guy.” If I hadn’t known better, I would have assumed that Jinyoung was just praising him because they were friends, but I’ve heard the same things said about him from other people.

That seemed to catch the attention of Dad. “Kim Yugyeom, right?” He chuckled. “The really tall kid from the dance academy?”

The memories of the dance academy were so blurry after leaving, but it wasn’t too long ago that it was completely forgotten. Mom heard about the academy from a client and immediately enrolled the two of us in after realizing that neither of us had a gift for the piano. I was convinced that she would do anything to keep us out of her hair.

We were probably around twelve at the time, when I was still taller than Jinyoung and wearing jeans underneath a skirt was considered fashionable.

OCTOBER 2003 (10)

Beyonce repeating over and over again about just how crazy in love she is was getting old. For the most part, I had no trouble keeping up with the choreography, but I didn’t want to be here at all. When the dance teacher called for a five minute break, I let out the biggest sigh of my life. That meant just another thirty minutes after and soon, I could go home.

Jinyoung quickly made friends with other participants in class and I saw how he interacted with one of them so easily in one corner. I made small talk with some other girls, too, but I didn’t particularly care enough to get to know them.

“I get that our class got cancelled and we got put in the beginner’s lessons, but stop looking so grouchy.” My brother tossed me a water bottle when he saw me approaching.

The male beside him flashed his pearly whites. “Hey! You were really great out there.”

It took me a while to search my memory, trying to figuring out if I’d seen this guy before. He was around our age and was taller than Jinyoung, but shorter than me, and wore all Nike on his body. Shaggy hair in the boyish and purposefully messy kind of way, he was cute. Cute enough for me to take note of him if he were in the intermediate dance class with Jinyoung and I, but I couldn’t recognize him at all.

“Thanks. Are you a beginner dancer?” I asked.

That seemed to make my brother burst out loud into laughter, while the other male just awkwardly chuckled.

Jinyoung replied, “Yugyeom’s in the advanced class with the teenagers.” He gave me the are you an idiot face, so I responded swiftly with a punch to the shoulder.

The assistant choreographer, Yeeun, announced from across the room that we had two minutes left to relax and catch our breaths. I took a swig of my water bottle. Yugyeom must’ve been dancing in the back, as I didn’t even notice him during the session.

“Uh, yeah, I am,” he said bashfully and swiped at sweat on his eyebrow. “I just started at the school early.”

“And Kyesang said that I can join the class soon, too,” Jinyoung added with a smug smile on his face.

I furrowed my eyebrows. “He didn’t say anything to me.” Kyesang was the head of the advanced class and constantly praised both Jinyoung and I. There was no way that Jinyoung got the offer to move up in levels before I did.

Yugyeom said, “You’re a great dancer, too. I bet you’d be able to join with a little bit more confidence!”

Before, I was rummaging through my backpack to find my second water bottle. My head slowly moved, my eyes raised to meet his. Did he really just say that? I wasn’t sure what exactly that was supposed to mean, but I saw the smile on his face and it seemed like he wasn’t joking at all.

“What, I don’t dance confidently?” Something about my stare seemed to wipe the grins from both of their expressions.

Yugyeom was beginning to stammer, then finally spit out, “No! I mean, yes! You dance fine!”

“Alright, back to your places everyone!”

Shoes began to squeak, signalling that the others were walking back onto the main floor. I raised an eyebrow at him, waiting for further explanation, but Jinyoung just dragged him away. That was Kim Yugyeom at age eleven, happy-go-lucky and playful like he was meant to be. Jinyoung lacked the stress placed upon his shoulders because of school. And, for me? I felt on top of the world, actually being able to be good at something.

MARCH 2009 (11)

Tracking down someone like Yugyeom at school proved to be more difficult than expected. For someone who was said to possess an abundance of brainpower, he was not in the library. He wasn’t normally found with the rest of Jinyoung’s dance crew for whatever reason. I didn’t have any classes with him, so that was out of the question. After needing to use Jinyoung as a middle man to get to the younger male, I figured out that Yugyeom came to school extremely early in the morning and that was the only time before the end of the day that he could be found easily.

I tended to be early myself, since I left home whenever Jinyoung did. However, the fact that Kim Yugyeom arrived an hour earlier than that was mind boggling to me. I didn’t even realize that the school gates opened at such an hour.

Jinyoung came with me, claiming that he needed to check up on some things for the upcoming Spring Festival as apart of his student council duties. That was code for ‘I guess I’ll be a good brother and not let you walk alone in the dark morning.’ He also probably felt bad for me, since he was the one who redirected me to Yugyeom in the first place, knowing full well how difficult it was to locate him.

Entering the school’s main foyer, I took notice of how it looked when it was so empty. The main administrative office was darkened and nobody was inside. There were no loud students blocking off the entrance, no nagging teachers—not counting the two first years off to the side playing on their Ninento DSis. They probably got dropped off by their parents on their way to work. Other than that, the floor was absolutely sparkling and the air felt peaceful without so many bodies.

Each time I ran into a teacher and wished them a good morning, they appeared startled at my appearance.

“Oh my goodness, I thought you were a ghost! Nobody is here this early!” My homeroom teacher exclaimed when I bowed to her out of nowhere.

Yugyeom was sitting cross legged on the floor in between blocks of lockers. I could hear the Chris Brown blasting from his headphones and he was bopping along to the rhythm. There was a chemistry textbook opened up in front of him and on his lap was a notebook that he was scrawling information onto. It seemed awkward having to just suddenly appear in front of him and I didn’t want to scare him like I had with the teachers.

I tentatively called out his name at first, but to no avail. I said it louder at least two more times, before his eyes flickered my way. A small, polite smile formed on his face and he took off his headphones promptly.

“Oh, hey there. Jinyoung said that you’d meet me.” Yugyeom gave a wave.

Approaching him, it felt odd having to talk and look down at him, so I leaned against the wall opposite from him and slid down until my bottom hit the ground. “Does that mean that you’re willing to help me out?” I crossed my fingers behind my back; if he rejected me, that meant I’d have to go to Hyoseop and I really did not want to do that.

“Yeah, of course I would!” That allowed for a relieved sigh. “But, uh, when’s this test?”

“. . . Three days.”

He widened his eyes. “Three days? That’s not a lot of time.”

I responded, “Oh, yeah. I totally understand! I’ll just find someone else—” He cut me off and I’d never felt so happy in my entire life.

“—No, no, no! Don’t worry about it. It’s just a little surprising that’s all.” Yugyeom scratched the back of his nape. “I’m just a little busy this week—but, not that busy. I, I mean not busy enough to help you.”

I nodded slowly, watching him flip through his notebook. He stopped on an empty page and ripped out a piece of the paper. I wondered what he was doing, but then he handed the paper to me after scribbling something down on it.

“Are you free today after school? I can help you out then.”

That was what changed everything.

#—— REPLY 2009.#got7 fanfic #got7 series #got7 #got7 scenarios #got7 imagine #got7 imagines #got7 x reader #got7 x you #got7 fluff #got7 au #kpop fanfic #kpop series

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jonwongton · 5 years

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KCON NY 2019 Recap

Wow I was actually in New York for four days and four nights. When I first saw the fromis_9 KCON NY announcement I knew there was no way I wasn't going to go. It looks like they made some great memories in NY/LA and I wanted a part of the fun too. Plus I wanted to avoid some of the regret I had last year in that I didn't go to KCON LA 2018. I already got super invested in them through June/July but I don't think I was emotionally ready/mature enough to go on a solo trip like this by myself.

Friday, July 5th

So to start out my trip, my flight to Newark was delayed for four hours. At least at the airport, I met the most beautiful family and got to play with their kids for a couple hours. The kids went boy girl boy where the youngest boy was causing trouble (literally me since I’m the third child), and the girl had no concept of stranger danger so she told me a wide assortment of TMIs about her family. The lady sitting next to me (Annie!) on the flight was also the sweetest soul imaginable, so we chatted for a couple hours before both watching Crazy Rich Asians (I admittedly cried at the ending).

I arrived after 9pm (no chance for early check-in or Klub KCON though I didn't want to dance with 16 year olds anyways), and I get anxious af when I'm in a foreign place without knowing exactly where I'm going, so I mass googled/kept asking for strangers for help to get to Manhattan. After I got settled into my hotel, Maya met me outside we went to Times Square! I'm so glad she came out and saw me that night because 1) I haven't seen her since summer of maybe 2016? so I missed her a ton 2) I literally had no idea how the NY subway worked before she told me 3) I wanted to go Times Square at night and 4) I wouldn't have wanted to go alone. We caught up on literally everything and I went to bed pretty late considering I wanted to check-in early to sell my A1 artist engagement pack.

and our “first date” pose because we were standing so damn far from each other:

Saturday, July 6th

I got up at 6am EDT (so 3am PDT aka rip), and rushed over to the Javits Convention Center to get in line. I brought like literally nothing because I was afraid you couldn't bring food in or they'd throw away my hydroflask. As it turns it, the staff didn't care at all, and there was hardly any line. After checking in, I got my A1 artist engagement pack ($150) which had an AB6IX high touch, a TXT audience pass, and an SF9 audience pass.

I almost panicked because I didn't know how popular AB6IX was, and if I had gotten ATEEZ/TXT I literally would have made at least a $100 net profit. I sat in line with some new people before I summoned enough courage to go into the artist engagement mob. Almost immediately, a girl ran up to me and asked me if I wanted to sell my hi-touch. I wanted to gauge the "market price" a bit more because I was still early af, but since I was still kinda panicking, I sold it to her for $100 and her SF9 audience pass. I looked around and that's when I figured out all the girls were trying to trade their hi-touches for the groups they wanted and all the guys were trying to buy their IZ ONE/(G)-IDLE hi-touches (the only two girl groups doing an artist engagement since Everglow couldn't attend and fromis_9 wasn't doing one). For the eight groups there, I'm pretty sure the market price went something alone the lines of

ATEEZ >>>>>>>> TXT = IZ ONE >> (G)-IDLE = The Boyz >>> SF9 = AB6IX >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> VeriVery

where the ">" shows the relative difference between each group. I thought TXT would be up with ATEEZ but I was clearly wrong. That's why I was pretty happy to get the AB6IX hi-touch off my hands. VeriVery hi-touches were being sold for $20 and people were throwing away their audience passes. I heard someone bought an ATEEZ hi-touch for $550 lmao.

I sold my AB6IX hi-touch, sat back in line with my new friends, and traded my TXT audience pass for an ATEEZ audience pass based on my sense of how popular each group was. I made another lap around the mob and a girl bought my ATEEZ audience pass almost instantly for $40. I made another lap maybe ten minutes later and sold one of my SF9 audience passes for $30 (I'm pretty sure I ripped her off on this one really hard but oh well). I couldn't find a buyer for my other SF9 audience pass so I decided to hold onto it until tomorrow since that's when their artist engagement would be. At this point, I was already +$20 in profit and I still had an audience pass leftover.

All the trading chaos settled at around 8:45am, but the convention didn't start until 11am. I just talked with some 16/17 year olds that were ridiculously into ATEEZ and other boy groups (surprisingly not NUEST or Seventeen).

I was one of the first into the convention and I made a full lap to scout around before picking something to do. The Toyota booth snatched me first and when I told them I was legit gonna get a 2020 Camry they were !!! and made me play their game. You had to search the Corolla for four QR codes, and take selfies with the filter that's prompted after scanning it in 90 seconds. The iPad they gave me glitched the fuck out so I only got three done. They gave me a "The Boyz Meet and Greet" pass which would allow me to go to the front of the line when they made a "surprise visit" at the Toyota booth. I was being a nice guy and told some The Boyz fan about it nearby, so the girl did it, succeeded, and won a fucking IZ ONE hi-touch >.> (people were selling that for $150 minimum...) so yes I'm salty as hell.

At the official merchandise line, if you bought more than $100 of stuff, they'd give you a special merchandise voucher. If you took that voucher to the KCON Star Square, played the game they had every hour and won, you'd get a chance to meet a "surprise artist". There were some official fromis_9 slogan towels for sale for $25, but I decided not to buy it right then and there in case they wanted one big purchase totaling $100. But my dumbass was wrong and the slogan towels sold out 30 minutes later and to this day I still don't have one (they're beautiful). I was also too slow to pre-order it when I bought my convention pass because they closed the presale.

I did some social media sellout booths, wrote some fromis_9 support on the "message to your idols" board, and realized there was nothing to do after that.

I just stood at the Toyota booth where they'd play an entire song and anyone that knew the dance would go up and do it (note they played the ENTIRE song and not just the chorus so for songs that weren't super popular, the stage was empty for a solid two minutes each time). I was only there for maybe 20 minutes, but they played Love Bomb and to my surprise, 4 Walls (which I haven't heard in ages).

I walked around aimlessly for another hour before I realized I hadn't eaten anything for the whole day. I got some really overpriced convention food and sat with some girls I met in line because I was pretty lonely at that point. They were from Chicago and were also there just for ATEEZ. We talked for a bit before they went to line up at MSG for the concert, so I walked around aimlessly for another 45 minutes before I went to one of the panels.

The panel was "The difference between American and KPOP" and Andreas Oberg (wrote Young and Free by Xiumin and Mark, one of my favorite station tracks) and David Amber (wrote Love Bomb, Heart Shaker, Yes or Yes, and Love Bug) were there! The third guy on the panel was pretty annoying, but I'm super interested in how these guys come up with these songs and they shed a ton of insight about it.

They talked about how most successful kpop songs now are actually a combination of multiple melodies put together, which supposedly make the song more interesting. For their particular styles, they try not to repeat the melody between choruses because that would bore the listener and try to have super catchy parts of the song or even the chorus start the track. Something else I found out which was super interesting is how they tailored certain songs for certain companies and groups. Andreas said SM gave him a ton of freedom, but when JYP asked for a song from David, he needed to make the verses long enough for each member to sing (aka Twice needs more lines since there are nine members) and add in rapping parts if the group had a rapper. They had a Q&A section at the end where two people kinda pissed me off since they went up to the mic and made shameless plugs saying how much they adored Andreas/David and were aspiring song writers like them. I actually summoned the courage myself and asked the panel a few questions:

Do you have a good sense of whether a song you wrote will become super popular?

How do you feel about songs that you are very proud of writing that don't become popular, maybe because it was given to a group that isn't that popular?

Do you think composers deserve more credit for making groups popular? The example I used is Blackpink is SUPER popular but their entire soud is almost exclusively produced by Teddy, which almost no one knows about.

I thought they gave me really insightful responses too:

A little bit, but once the song is produced, it's in the hands of the company to promote it with the artist and the choreography.

They're sometimes really sad about songs they create that don't make it big, and Andreas told me he was very fond of Young & Free

David said it's fine the way it is now. The example he used is with movies where the actors/actresses will get all the credit + make the movie famous, but a huge part of the production of the movie is because of the director, who rarely gets any attention.

I walked around aimlessly for another thirty minutes before standing at the KCON Dance Studio to watch the random play dance. I always saw the youtube videos of them so I wanted to see it in person myself. It turns out there was a cluster fuck of people there and we kept getting pushed back so far I couldn't see anything. Two guys in line next to me had Fun Factory albums and fromis_9 posters, so I decided to strike up a conversation with them. It turns out they were also huge flovers AND buddies, so we ditched the random play dance and talked for half an hour about our overall love for kpop. They were also New York locals, and they said they would take me under their wing for the rest of the weekend T_T. We met up with one of the guy's aunts and head to ktown since it was within walking distance, the convention closed at 6, and they wanted something to eat before the concert started at 8.

I took the 순두부 짬뽕 I ordered back to my hotel and ate it while watching the live stream since I only bought a Sunday ticket. On the way back, I also stopped by a store called Koryo Bookstore which sold kpop stuff. I couldn't find any GFriend/fromis_9 stuff I wanted, so I bought a Harry potter book in Korean to practice before going back. The concert livestream was okay, and it felt even shorter because IZ ONE got an extra stage, which I presume was supposed to fill in for Everglow. I lost my shit when NUEST performed Love Paint and Look though because those songs changed my life summer 2016 (they almost made me wish I went). I was still kinda disappointed in them because they had a ton of fans, but they gave off the vibe they only came to NY just to do the concert and leave. I tried sleeping early but as I crawled into bed, I got a fromis_9 vlive notification and I kinda had to watch it in case they spoiled the activities of tomorrow. I saw on twitter they actually arrived on SATURDAY and just toured New York, so obviously there was no way they could be at Saturday's convention. I spammed in chat if they'd have a pinky promise event for maybe 15 minutes but they never saw the comment. I didn't hear any spoilers so I just went to bed tired af since I got like no sleep in the past two days.

Sunday, July 7th

I woke up pretty late on Sunday and bought an expensive ass fancy bagel before getting to the convention center, though I could hardly eat it since I have literally zero appetite when I’m in a foreign place.

I bought the official fromis_9 jersey to match my two buddies just so everyone would know we were flovers at first sight. I also finally took out my Saerom sign and carried it around the convention center. We watched the Sunday opening ceremony and met up with a third guy (a Wiz One) while we waited for the fromis_9 fanclub meeting at 1:30.

I also found a lady willing to buy my SF9 audience pass for $15, which is ridiculous because I saw people giving it away for free at this point.

The fanclub meeting was really interesting. I instantly locked eyes with a girl that had a Saerom sign and we took a few pictures.

We played bingo with a lot of the squares consisting of fromis_9 memes, and two kahoot games where we had to guess which member it was (the pictures were ridiculous) and name the song after only hearing 1 second of it. At the very end, we did the Love Bomb and Fun! fanchants, but it was nearly impossible doing them without already knowing them if you could read romanized hanguel fast enough. I still screamed my heart out though (seriously).

There was nothing interesting left on the schedule, so we walked around before deciding to go to the (G)-IDLE fanclub meeting as well. I missed most of it because I met up with the girl that printed the banners, but there was a really entertaining random play dance at the end. On the way to get the banners, I met the girl that had the Saerom sign during the fromis_9 fan meeting, so we chatted a bit and exchanged numbers (she was here just for fromis_9 and she came from SWEDEN, so I thought we could bond over that). We closed out the day by going to the "2019 Year of Girl Groups" panel.

The panel was really boring, one of the members kept swearing, and they just talked about which girl groups they thought were the most influential in the kpop scene. Personally, I thought the SNSD/f(x) answers were meaningful since Gee shook the world and f(x)'s weird sound + Amber broke down a lot of stereotypes at the time, but some of the Twice answers in the group were a huge stretch. Two fans kept talking about how much Twice meant to them and while that's great and all, I think the rest of the audience felt the same way as I did. At the end, they forgot to give away their prizes, so they basically asked us to walk up and convince the audience why we should get the prize. I walked up and told them I was disappointed I came all the way from California just to see fromis_9 but still didn’t get the chance to. That won me this:

It was like 5:30pm after the panel ended, so we (five of us total) went to ktown to get chicken and hype ourselves up for the concert. They were playing Chung Ha and so many other not as popular girl groups (Weki Meki, Gugudan, Cherry Bullet) that we ended up talking about that for the entire time.

We all split up after we got to Madison Square Garden (I had P1, the group of three had P2, one guy had P3) and had maybe five minutes before the concert started because we showed up so late.

We were all super sad that they started with fromis_9 instead of one of the other boy groups, but I fanchanted and danced my heart out during all the songs.

The people in my section were huge mood killers though. I was sitting in the Chase preferred section, so I feel like the people in that section either a) had their parents use their credit card to buy their tickets or b) got the tickets handed out at some event and weren't even invested in kpop. The two girls to my life were there for seventeen and got on their feet at the end, but the two girls to the right of me sat down and were on their phones for the whole concert.

I got so lucky during the concert. VeriVery covered 24K magic, AB6IX covered Attention, and SF9 covered Love Shot, all songs which I know and love. And a word about Seventeen's stage. I was clearly at KCON for fromis_9, but I also LOVE Seventeen. I didn't pay much attention to their most recent comeback home though since it was a much slower song. However, EVERY SEVENTEEN SONG THEY PERFORMED I ACTUALLY KNEW. They started with 숨이차 which I knew but was indifferent to, but then we got Good To Me, Adore U, AND 아주 Nice. The stadium was freaking shaking during 아주 Nice and when they came back for the surprise encore I think the entire crowd and I died.

I met up with my friends after outside the venue, but three of them had to leave because they had work the next day (locals). I was ready to go back to my hotel content with the concert but disappointed overall, but Sweden girl texted me and told me to meet up with all the other flovers we were with. I met the moderators of the fan club meeting and like ten people that were huge fans and traveled as far as I did here for fromis_9. None of us were tired so we went to ktown to hang out. We talked for two hours over girl groups, fromis_9, guessing each other's biases, and learning our own backstories + age. Like where were these people during the actual convention. Apparently they all knew each other, but because I don't have a twitter, instagram, or am on discord, I was the reason I couldn't be found. I invited Sweden girl to do touristy crap with me on Monday/Tuesday because our flights on Tuesday were at like the same time, but one of the guys there tipped us off for the fromis_9 flash mob happening tomorrow at Washington Square Park at 2:30pm. I personally didn't give a shit about touristy stuff and I only felt obligated to do it because I was in New York, but I clearly only came this far for kpop. We decided to meet up for lunch at like 11am and we all went our separate ways.

Monday, July 8th

We all met up at Chipotle and sat around talking about more kpop stuff.

It was raining surprisingly hard in the morning, so we were all praying the event didn't get canceled. We walked over to Washington Square Park at 1pm and camped out there full of anxiety. I’ll type up what happened at the flash mob in a different post, but in summary, it was the best day of our lives. A ton of flovers had flights to catch, so Sweden girl and got milk tea and just held our hands crying over the event we saw. We rewatched the videos like 15 times (not kidding), took the subway to the Statue of Liberty, took the subway BACK to Washington Square Park because we missed some closure pictures, and then went to Central Park to take more pictures, all while lugging around my silly Saerom sign.

Our heads were in the clouds the entire day so we just sat on a rock and watched the sunset. She met up with a friend from Michigan while I got Halal guys and went back to my hotel room super emotional over the days events.

My dumbass put too much of the red sauce in it which was spicy as HELL so I couldn’t even eat much of it.

Tuesday, July 9th

I woke up late because I wanted to stretch out the best day of my life (yesterday) for as long as possible, and Sweden girl convinced me to go to the airport to say bye to fromis_9 before our flight. I was late as hell, but I booked my ass over to JFK and got to see (G)-IDLE and IZ ONE at the airport (I have videos, not pictures). At the end of the day, fromis_9 wasn't even leaving New York that day so apparently the twitter source was wrong. I wasn't too disappointed though given Monday's events, so I said my good-byes to my partner-in-crime from the weekend and booked my ass to Newark (I was almost late for my flight because New York rush hour, will never underestimate again).

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All in all, I give KCON a solid 3/10, but my overall trip was a 12.4/10 because of what happened at Washington Square Park. KCON has much better, ethical ways to suck the money dry out of the fans that are willing to pay. They announce the artist engagement schedule AFTER selling the packs, which baited so many Nuest and Seventeen fans. The layout of the convention was absolutely fucking awful too. They put the Toyota booth dance stage, the KCON stage, the cover stage, and the KCON dance stage fairly close to each other so the music was playing over each other, and the other half of the room had empty booths full of cosmetic products and studying in Korea which has an appeal to like 10% of the people there. They also checked our wristbands when moving between rooms in the convention center, which makes no sense since we needed our wristband to enter the Javits Convention Center period. And in general, there was nothing to do "long term" so so many people were walking around bored like me. The lines for the stuff that could actually be done were ridiculously long (maybe 25-30 minute waits for the free food but that's long enough to miss an entire panel/engagement). The cherry on the cake is they announced the KCON LA lineup today without any teasers (no consistency?) and almost every single artist that went to KCON NY is going to KCON LA. I personally trust KCON LA a bit more to not fuck up everything as bad as KCON NY, but it still feels pretty unethical considering how many of us flew ridiculous distances to NY just for the same line up.

I'm not the biggest fan of New York either. The city is super crowded, smells awful, and I don't feel safe on the streets at all (and I'm a guy). One redeeming quality is that the people that I met were unbelievably nice. I probably asked for directions eight times and every time, I got the most helpful/friendly response. An old white man even saw how I confused I looked an approached me asking exactly how he could help me get to where I wanted to go.

At least now, I think I have the confidence to plan my own solo trip to a faraway place. This was a fun one.

I hope we answered your promise Saerom!

#kcon

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